Case Study: Ciox Health (“Ciox”)

01 The goal

Optimizing the customer experience

Customer experience is a priority for Ciox. Therefore, the company decided to adopt NiCE Satmetrix for collecting and analyzing its voice of the customer data. An always-on SaaS solution, it incorporates information from Net Promoter Score®(NPS)*, customer effort scores, surveys, and the world’s largest set of CX performance data.

However, within a year of implementing the solution, the customer experience expert and program administrator left Ciox. Then, even as the search for a replacement progressed, another shockwave hit with the arrival of COVID-19. With the initial global disruption came uncertainty and the CX position remained in limbo.

Ciox still needed to learn from the NPS® survey feedback, but there was no resource that could be tapped to rapidly assume ownership of the program. For six months, NPS® feedback and analysis was only being applied in the case of one large Ciox client. By mid-2020, all Ciox employees were working from home and it became clear that the world was adapting to a changed business environment.

At that stage, Ciox decided to press ahead with the NiCE Satmetrix VOC program and Patricia Talley stepped up as Director of Customer Experience. Patricia and Vice President Craig McCoy agreed that the entire CX program needed to be re-energized, so Patricia dove in and began learning all she could about NPS®. She worked closely with Judy Soltis at NiCE Satmetrix and was able to rapidly acquire CX expertise.

It quickly became apparent that the company had not been following best practices in some areas of the NPS® program. While they had done a great job collecting data and creating a closed loop process, the program was only designed to resolve issues for specific clients. Ciox was not leveraging survey- generated feedback to effect changes impacting all customers or for educational initiatives across the organization.

02 NiCE solution

Using data effectively

A more complete leveraging of NiCE Satmetrix was necessary to elevate the information collected for use in serving the entire Ciox customer base. Along with more effective use of the data on customer feedback, Ciox also decided to invest in communicating with the customers regarding the value the company places on that feedback, what the data is used for, and how it will impact customer experience.

NiCE provided constant support and “was extremely helpful,” Patricia said, as Ciox began to re-engineer its Voice of the Customer program. The first step, however, was ensuring top leadership was fully updated and aware of the goals. This entailed establishing the Improve the Provider Experience Committee (IPEC), which has executive sponsors across all departments.

The team responsible for the CX project meets with the IPEC every week. They evaluate all data gathered, which they analyze for action drivers and improvement opportunities. Based on these findings, the team establishes goals and prioritization for the year, as well as projects and initiatives that impact the customer experience. The team tracks outcomes of each project compared against predefined goals, in order to be able to take corrective action where needed.

Ciox executives get a monthly update on progress,counter-measures, goals, key achievements, and next steps.The executive team is kept fully aware of the value of the NPS® score, which they have come to see as a key performance metric.

Top leadership at Ciox has even begun to play a direct role in the company’s CX efforts thanks to the NPS-based program. When a Passive or Detractor score is registered for the likelihood to recommend, a company executive personally calls the customer to inquire further about their feedback. The purpose of the call is to let the customer know how important their opinion is to the company, and that the feedback is being listened to, analyzed and acted upon.

Ciox is, of course, focused on improving retention. As part of this effort, the company added a question to their customer survey about the “likelihood to repurchase.”

A Passive or Detractor score for the “repurchase” question automatically triggers an “at risk” label on that customer’s account. An “at risk” case is created in Ciox’s Salesforce org, which means the retention team reviews and executes counter measures. A follow-up NPS® survey is used to confirm that the client is a Promoter before they are removed from the “at risk” list.

Ciox also invested time and resources to automate the formatting of contact files from Salesforce for uploading in NiCE Satmetrix. This saves a lot of time and is expected to become even more important, as the company is expecting to triple its customer contacts this year.

03 Results

Positive feedback

Ciox’s reinvigorated Voice of the Customer program, with NiCE Satmetrix at its core, showed rapid results, including a 47% survey participation rate and increase in NPS®. Surveys also reveal a marked improvement in the overall perception of the Ciox workforce. The promoters tend to cite “Relationships” and “Communication” as the primary reasons for their positive feedback.

04 Future

Upgraded caller experience and more anti-fraud measures

Having seen the positive results from their CX program, Ciox is intending to expand it with a greater focus on engagement. This will include strategies to increase response rates and the number of clients surveyed, as well as motivating customers to promote Ciox on their social media channels and elsewhere.

Internally, Ciox is initiating a system of automated notification to the Marketing Department whenever a Promoter is registered by NiCE Satmetrix. A parallel initiative is celebrating Promoters and recognizing employees responsible for increasing a Net Promoter Score®.

Operationally, Ciox will be embracing automation in more areas, including using an electronic QA form. The company also plans to increase and accelerate cross-training among frontline staff, so its contact center agents can take full advantage of time-saving automations and more efficient workflows.

“I could talk nonstop about the value we get from NiCE Satmetrix as we transform our CX program.”

Patricia Talley

Director Customer Experience
Ciox